


stars are on the ground (you start to believe it)

by starssshine



Series: voltron oneshots [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Pidge | Katie Holt, F/F, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Lesbian Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant, Pansexual Allura (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt is Savage, Rated teen for language, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Sorry Not Sorry, pallura, there's a lot of gay here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 16:19:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15077006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starssshine/pseuds/starssshine
Summary: As Katie goes through the motions of war and being in space, she really starts to appreciate the beauty of some things she hadn't before (some things might be certain princesses she wishes beyond all hope would notice her more than Shiro).





	stars are on the ground (you start to believe it)

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoy! title from Panic! at the Disco's song "Dying in LA".

She was very young when she realized she wasn’t like some of the other girls at her school. She had always been a bright girl, and her older brother always seemed to know what to do when something was strange.

“Matt,” she asked one day, “All the girls at school talk about boys all the time. I don’t really like boys.”

“Well, Katie, that’s totally fine! Some girls don’t like boys. Some girls like boys. Some girls like girls and some boys like boys! You can like whoever you want,” he answered with a smile. “Some people may try and tell you differently, but never believe them.”

Katie climbed onto her brother’s lap, even though an eight-year-old was too large to do so comfortably. “I do like girls.”

“That’s great! Girls are pretty nice, aren’t they.” Matt shifted his weight so Katie could relax. “I’m glad you’re able to talk to me, Pidge.”

Katie stiffened at the nickname and shot Matt a look, but she smiled back.

~~~

Katie pushed her glasses farther up her nose, annoyed that they kept falling. She knew it was because they were a few sizes too big, and they definitely were too strong of a prescription, but she wasn’t letting go of these anytime soon. The way she saw it, she would ruin her eyes from wearing the glasses until they were the right prescription, so she continued wiping tears from her eyes during class.

“Holt, Katie!” her teacher called, and she raised her hand in response. Honestly, she wished she didn’t have to come to school anymore. She knew what she was doing, she passed every year with flying A’s, but her brother and father had always wanted her to “grow to her full potential.” She really hated school, but she stayed for them.

 Now, Katie didn’t even see either of them at home. They were off in space, while she was stuck depressingly on the ground. No matter how high she jumped, she wasn’t going anywhere _close_ to most of her family.

“Katie?” Katie’s head snapped up to see her teacher looking at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat the question?” she asked meekly, and there was a stifled giggle from all the students in the classroom.

Her science teacher looked at her disappointedly over his glasses. “I asked if you know about the current mission to Kerberos by the Galaxy Garrison.”

Of course. _Of course,_ she knew about the mission to Kerberos. She and her mom had spent plenty of nights together, speculating what her father and brother might find there. The worst part was, Katie knew that her mom was keeping it together for her. No matter how hard she tried to keep her tears in around Katie, there was no hiding things from her. She just hoped that her doubts would be proven wrong.

“Yes,” she replied quietly. “Yeah, I know about the mission.”

“What do you think they might find there?” Mr. Salis looked at her expectantly, put off by her short answer.

 _Nothing. They went there for no reason, and they will come back with nothing but a missing year of my life._ “I was thinking that if they were going to come close to finding extraterrestrial life, they might there. It’s farther than anywhere we’ve ever gone in space.”

That brought a not-so-stifled giggle from the class. Mr. Salis looked around the classroom with disbelief. “What? Don’t you all want to find aliens?”

“Well,” a kid with spiky blond hair spoke up. Katie had hated him since she was a little girl. “Aliens aren’t real, sir.”

“Actually, it’s very likely that there is life outside of earth. With such a huge universe, there’s a very small chance that there isn’t another planet that is able to host living creatures. I recommend you do some research before opening your mouth, Aaron.” Aaron’s mouth opened and closed in shock while Mr. Salis smiled at Katie. “I wouldn’t be surprised if your family finds something, Miss Holt. Now, what do you think they will find, Emily?”

Katie looked out the window at the moon, the only way she could imagine talking to them, and sent a silent message of hope out to the crew. Maybe there was a chance they wouldn’t come back empty-handed after all.

~~~

Katie was ready to do whatever it took to find her family. She knew that there might not be a good chance they were alive, but she wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon. So when Iverson kicked her out of the Garrison, she had a plan ready.

First, she had to talk to her mother.

“Mom, I have to do this! You know as well as I do that Matt, dad, and Shiro aren’t dead. At least, not yet. If I can find them, I could bring them home!” Katie’s voice got louder and louder until her mom gave her a look to make her shrink back. “Sorry. But don’t you understand why I need to do this?”

Her mom sighed. “I understand, Katie. I just don’t want to let my last family member go. I let Sam and Matt leave, and look what happened to them? Can you imagine how I would feel if something happened to you?”

Katie looked down in disappointment. “I get it, mom. I’m sorry I asked.”

“I wasn’t saying no.”

Katie’s head snapped up. “What?”

Her mom sucked in a breath. “I know what it feels like to have a need to do something. Knowing you have to do something, even if everyone else tells you it’s a stupid idea. I moved to a whole new country when I married your father! But I knew it was what I was supposed to do. And as much as I don’t want to let my daughter go somewhere where she very well could get hurt or could go to space, I know it’s supposed to happen.”

Katie raced at her mom and hugged her as tight as she possibly could. “I won’t get myself killed, mom. I promise I’ll come home.”

Her mom exhaled on her shoulder. “Stay away from Iverson. Speaking of which, how are you getting yourself back in?”

Katie backed away, a sheepish expression on her face. “Do you know anything about hair-cutting?”

~~~

Katie would never be able to explain the exact feeling she got when she saw the Blue Lion. It was fear and excitement and happiness and sadness and nostalgia all rolled into one, and it wasn’t even her lion. But it was quite a sight to see the lion in it’s full glory only a few feet in front of her.

“Woah,” she, Lance, Hunk, Shiro, and Keith said collectively, and that seemed to be the correct emotion to sum up this whole ordeal.

The lion gave a roar and opened its mouth, making a small ramp into itself. The five of them stared at it in awe, before Lance gave a chuckle and ran inside. Pidge was the first to follow him in.

~~~

“Hello?” Hunk called repeatedly, and eventually the five of them weren’t as afraid of monsters jumping out at them. When they finally appeared in what seemed to be a control room, Katie was immediately drawn to what seemed to be technology. It was unearthly (obviously), and she was curious of how to even turn it on, much less of how to use it.

And then a pod opened, and a beautiful woman fell out. Katie studied her in awe, with her long white hair that had to reach her knees and pink marks under her rapidly blinking mysteriously beautiful eyes—

And she was right in Lance’s arms. Now, Katie had never felt jealous of Lance in any way. She had never admired his womanizing, never admired his undeniable crush on that one guy at the Garrison she pretended not to know (the one fate decided had to come with them on this strange adventure). But she swore that if she got to hold that girl in her arms, she would go through every minute of embarrassment that Lance had had in his life.

Except she then flipped Lance around and threw him on the floor, which had Katie trying her best to not think about how _hot_ that was.

~~~

Katie loved mice. She had always thought they were extremely cute, even back on earth. So cute, Altean mice? Ten times better. She had had no regrets telling them all of her secrets, especially ones that had been weighing on her for a long time (like the whole acting like a different gender thing that had made her slightly uncomfortable). At least, she had had no regrets at the time when she told them. Now that the princess was interrogating her, she was slightly nervous about what the mice had told her.

"I like peanut butter. And I like peanut butter cookies. But I hate peanuts. They're so dry! Also, I sweat a lot. I mean, in general. Unrelated to the peanuts," Katie said quickly, trying to get over her extreme anxiety of what the mice told her. The gender thing? Not terrible. How much she missed her brother, father, mother, and even her dog? Fine. But her _huge_ crush on Allura? The very thought of that had alarms going off in several different spots in her brain.

After trying to avoid questions from Allura (and probably being a huge jerk at the same time), she ended up exposing part of herself to not expose the other part.

“I decrypted the information from the Galra ship about where my family might be, or at least where they were. I've made up my mind. I'm leaving tonight.”

Allura’s hurt expression was enough to make her completely rethink her decision, but no matter what she said, nothing was changing her mind. She was going to find her family, like she promised her mother. She wasn’t staying away from earth any longer than she had to.

(Pretty soon after, she realized there was no way she could abandon her team, but she refused to admit it for some time).

~~~

Katie had never been more relieved when she learned that the mice _didn’t_ tell Allura about her not-so-small crush. That would have been awful. Instead, Allura seemed to be the first one to realize that she was, in fact, a she. Katie was absolutely fine with that, especially when Allura decided they would have “girl talks” since they were the only two girls on the ship.

“How did you stand having to act like a male with them?” Allura asked while layering the closest thing to green nail polish on Katie’s toes. “Don’t humans their age go through puberty then, and don’t they talk about females all the time?”

“Well, I’m their age too— seventeen. I’m just tiny because girls usually end up a lot smaller than boys. What happens to female Alteans when they go through puberty?” Katie asked, trying to avoid the question about talking about girls.

“Well, we gain our abilities to shapeshift, and we get our markings across our bodies. You probably never noticed, but we have marks all over our bodies, not just under our eyes.” Allura explained. “Also, we learn who we are attracted to. Is that a thing on earth?”

Katie let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, actually. Certain people like certain genders. I, for instance, only like girls. I’m lesbian. Some people like the opposite gender, some like the same, some like both male and female, some like all genders, some like no genders! There’s a whole spectrum. How many genders were there on Altea?”

“Oh, there were quite a few. I personally always liked them all— does earth have a name for that?” Allura asked.

“Of course! The name for that would be pansexual.”

“Pansexual,” Allura tasted the word on her tongue, sounding it out slowly. “Earth is such an interesting place. Do all people have a name for who they are attracted to?”

Katie shrugged. “Well, some people aren’t exactly sure. Also, there is this bad thing on earth— we call it ‘homophobia’— where some people aren’t okay with others liking people besides the opposite gender. Did that exist on Altea?”

Allura looked at Katie with disbelief. “Of course not! Why is that even considered?”

“I really don’t know, Princess.” Katie lifted up her feet and examined her nails. She would never admit it outside of this room, but she liked the way the green looked on her skin.

Allura sighed. “I wish this war was over. Sometimes I just wish this was all a dream and I would wake up a little girl on Altea.”

“I wish I could wake up on earth with my brother and dad home and never have to leave the earth,” Katie confessed. “I miss them so much it physically hurts, you know?”

Allura scooted closer to Katie so she was right next to her on the floor of the domed room. “I do know. I wish I was anywhere else than in this situation. But I have enjoyed this talk. Coran is great to talk to and all, but I don’t want to talk about Altea with him. He would just be more upset about it’s destruction. The others— well, the only person besides you who really _listens_ is Shiro.”

“You hang out with him a lot,” Katie pointed out. “Why?”

Allura nodded. “He’s a leader, too. He understands things others might not. I talk to him because he can truly understand the horrific things the Galra have done, not because I favor him. I enjoy talking to you too, though. The only other girl on this ship? That’s a sweet relief for me, to be honest, Pidge.”

“Katie.”

“What?” Allura tilted her head sideways, confusion obvious on her face.

“My real name is Katie. You- you can call me that, if you’d like.” Katie’s face flushed, and she looked away from Allura.

Allura smiled. “Of course, Katie. It’s a beautiful name.”

Katie looked at her, and the two of them held each other’s gazes for a minute. Katie smiled again and looked at the clear roof that showed the stars in their full beauty.

 _I’m surrounded by beautiful things,_ she thought.

~~~

Allura was gone.

Allura was gone and was taken by the Galra and Katie wasn’t sure whether to cry, lose all emotion, or kill a man. Possibly all three. Right now, she decided to lose any emotion she had and keep her face straight. She wasn’t about to give up on Allura, so she decided to keep a blank face and do everything in her power to get her back.

The worst part of it all was that Shiro seemed like the one who seemed to be leading the mission and doing most of the saving. She didn’t know what to do, really. She couldn’t say _she_ had to take the lead because the team would ask why.

Katie trusted Shiro, though. She knew he would be able to take care of it. So, she decided to sit still and do her part. If she went crazy like some people would, it would end up in more chaos.

All she wanted was the princess back, safe and sound. Katie had crushes before, she knew how she got when they ended up liking others, and she was pretty sure that Allura like Shiro. She was determined to not let herself get jealous again. She was going to let it go.

~~~

Katie had seen Shiro and Allura on the bridge one day, and she had seen how they acted together. It was something she was slightly afraid of, and not something she would intrude on. Not when he kissed her on the cheek and held her hand.

~~~

Allura was back, and the team was back, and it was fine. It took time, and Katie may or may not have started hyperventilating when she saw how beat up Keith and Shiro were, but everyone was fine once they got in a cryopod.

And Katie saw Allura hug Shiro and whisper something in his ear, and she turned away. She went to her room and sat down, intending on trying to get some rest. But when someone knocked on her door, she called for them to come in.

Katie hadn’t expected Shiro to walk in, not when he could be with the others. “What do you need, Shiro?”

“Why did you leave down there? You saved Coran and Allura, and everyone missed you while we separated.” Shiro sat down on the bed next to her.

Katie sighed and looked away from Shiro and gave up on trying to avoid the topic. “Shiro, are you and Allura a thing?”

Shiro leaned back in surprise. “No? Honestly, I would say she is my best friend out here. I don’t like her, though. Why do you ask?”

“I saw you and her one day. You kissed her on the cheek and held her hand. Isn’t that what couples do?” Katie asked, trying to avoid Shiro’s previous question.

Shiro shrugged. “Sure. But, it’s also what friends do. When you are one of the two remaining members of your race, it’s a little nice to have some physical reassurance. Allura and I are friends, that’s it. Actually,” Shiro began, rubbing the back of his neck, “I- never mind.”

“No, go on,” Katie encouraged him, leaning closer in anticipation. “Do you have a girlfriend back on earth?”

“Not exactly.” Shiro stated. “I have a boyfriend, and he’s not on earth. I don’t know where he is. That’s why I’m ready to find him with you.”

Katie sat there in shock for a second, trying to comprehend what Shiro was saying. “So, you’re saying that my brother, my Matt, Matt Holt, is dating you?”

Shiro nodded.

“What the _fuck_?!”

Shiro laughed nervously. “Are- are you okay with it?”

“Of course, I am! You think I didn’t notice my weeb of a brother pining after you for _years_? I just didn’t think it would happen in space!” Katie exclaimed, smiling like an idiot for more reasons than one.

Shiro laughed for real. “Well, strange things happen in strange places. For instance,” Shiro said, nudging Katie with an elbow, “A girl falling for a space princess?”

Katie’s eyes went wide. “How did you know?”

“To tell the truth, the boys and I have a betting pool going of which of you will ask the other one out. Are you really going to deprive me of $20?” Shiro looked at her with a smirk. “I’m just saying, if you ask her out now, I don’t think she’s going to say anything _bad_. As an honorary best friend, I can’t say anything else, but…” He trailed off, letting Katie imagine the end of his sentence herself.

Katie hugged Shiro. “Okay, good talk. Now, I have some business to attend to, if you don’t mind.” She got up and ran out of her room immediately, leaving Shiro laughing on her bed.

~~~

“Hey, Allura, can I ask you something? Uh, in private?” Katie asked, and Allura agreed with a confused look on her face. That look seemed to be frequent for her around Katie.

When in a different room (the domed room where they would always have their girl talks, Katie noted), Katie let out a deep breath. “So, uh, I was wondering. You said you like all genders, right? Um. I like girls, a lot, and I was thinking,” Katie inhaled with anticipation, noting Allura’s still confused-but-maybe-a little-hopeful expression. “I was wondering if you were… single? I guess? I’m asking you if you want to date me. Holy shit, am I actually doing this? You know what, forget I said anything. This was stupid-“

“Hey!” Allura said loudly, successfully stopping Katie’s rambling. “Yes,” she said, and Katie was confused for about two seconds before something clicked.

“You mean- you would like to-“

“Yes,” Allura repeated, and then they both broke into a stream of words that couldn’t be understood by anyone, let alone themselves. Somehow, they both ended up taking a breath at the same time, and they looked at each other, and starting giggling.

“I’m happy, Princess,” Katie said, and Allura nodded in response.

“Me too, Katie. I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a long time.” Allura sighed, a smile still on her face. “So, what are we now?”

“Girl…friends?” Katie squeaked out, and Allura reached down to kiss Katie on the cheek with no explanation. Katie’s face turned into something she could only describe as “tomato red.”

“Girlfriends- girlfriends sounds nice. I like it,” Allura stated matter-of-factly.

Katie tilted her head. “What did they call it on Altea?” she asked, and Allura thought for a second.

“They called it _amotias_. It meant ‘loves’ or ‘loved ones’. I remember my father calling my mother that,” she said fondly.

Katie felt her face flush again. “I like that too.”

The two of them eventually sat down and stared at the stars in a comfortable silence. At one point, Allura reached out and grabbed Katie’s hand. “Is this okay?” she asked, and when Katie nodded her assent she held it a little tighter.

“This is nice,” Katie commented.

“It is.”

“What do we do after this?”

“I’m not sure,” Allura admitted. “I’m not very experienced with relationships. But we’ll get there.”

Katie sighed in happiness and content and rested her head on Allura’s shoulder. “I’m ready for it.”

**Author's Note:**

> shiro: get this alllllllll on camera, i need proof of my victory  
> lance: goddammit shiro
> 
> oof i like it? it's not bad, considering i wrote it in only a few hours and with frequent snack breaks. i might go back and change it later, but it's like this for now. thanks for reading, and comments and kudos are deeply appreciated!  
> -rosey


End file.
